Bermuda’s Premier David Burt has said his Cabinet will meet later on Tuesday to examine the imposition of “additional restrictions” to slow the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) after eight new cases of the disease were confirmed in Bermuda.
“The information reaching my office is that precautions around the country have not kept up and thus it is likely that there will need to be stricter enforcement,” he said.
“The Cabinet will consider additional restrictions tomorrow to prevent any outbreak to ensure our economy stays open.”
Police, meanwhile, have started checks on licensed premises to ensure regulations are being followed, while children and staff at three schools and a nursery have been told to quarantine out of an “abundance of caution” after a coronavirus risk was identified, the government said.
Health Minister Kim Wilson told a news conference on Monday night that of the eight new cases — taking the island’s total to 235 — all but one had no link to travel. She confirmed all eight are adults.
Wilson said the positive results were among a batch of 2,044 that came back to health officials over the weekend when Bermuda completed its 100,000th COVID-19 test.
She added that the case that came in from overseas was a visitor who arrived on an Air Canada flight from Toronto on November 6 and tested positive on the day-14 test.
“The remaining seven new cases had no link to travel. One of those new cases is classified as local transmission with a known contact. In other words, this was a resident who had close contact in a social setting with a known case currently under investigation,” Wilson said, adding “the remaining six new cases are related to a workplace setting.”
Bermuda has 22 active cases but none are in hospital. A total of nine people with COVID-19 have died so far – the last on May 13 – and 204 people have recovered from the coronavirus.
The Bermuda Police Service (BPS) said checks on licensed premises would continue after a clampdown was launched last week.
The BPS will continue to carry out checks over the next week to ensure that people are not letting their guard down in an effort to do our part to prevent spread of the virus and in line with our mission of making Bermuda safer,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police Martin Weekes.
Weekes said officers visited “a large number” of restaurants, bars and clubs over the weekend and “in 90 per cent of cases everything was in order”.
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